The End of the Game

Waldo Hammersmith exploits an Insta-Charge account error until Buell’s codebox voice coerces him into assaulting Pamela Thrushwell. Detective Lieutenant Joseph Casey gains Waldo’s trust, then shoots him for money from Buell. Buell remotely directs Casey and detonates his codebox in a New York City schoolyard, killing seven children and Casey. Remo protects an unnamed U.S. President from an Iranian group, then investigates computer tampering for CURE director Harold W. Smith. Pamela works at the International Computer Advancement Center of New York, where false alerts lead Naismith to activate his Titan battery; he stops with the final firing code unpressed. The narration says Russia had fired no missiles and U.S. cities had not been destroyed.

In Soviet command, Marshal Ivan Michenko initiates a false firing sequence; no missiles fire, and the narrative says the system needs repair. Buell’s game prompts Marcia to frame an unnamed passerby, whom a policeman shoots. London gunmaker Hamuta tortures a captive during a weapons test for an unnamed visiting lord, then travels to California to attack Remo; Pamela shoots him dead despite Remo’s objection. In Malibu, three men accept Buell’s assignment to kill Remo but are disarmed and released. Remo and Pamela follow Buell’s trail to Carmel and the underground laboratory near Hernandez. Smith invokes Chiun’s contract and requests Remo’s removal; Chiun accepts the obligation under the contract, while Remo only learns of it later.

Marcia identifies herself as a Soviet state-security officer and reprograms U.S. missiles to strike American cities. Remo and Chiun stage a lethal-looking duel and survive; Pamela and Marcia shoot each other and die. A fragment from Smith’s Barsgod shell kills Buell. Smith says CURE computers can absorb Buell’s systems, but the text does not confirm full missile-control recovery. Chiun does not directly answer whether he would have killed Remo.